Berated

One cold New York City night in January 2009, I found myself in the back room of the Bowery Poetry Club, encircled by the typical PBR-wielding twenty-somethings and some of the most magical music I’ve ever encountered. By wandering in to find shelter from the shivering chill, I had unknowingly stumbled upon the EP release [...]

The crisp, jangly guitar-pop that The Wandas produce recalls the playful power-pop of Teenage Fanclub and Big Star. It is touched with a dose of modern accessibility, with the familiar song structures and sweet harmonious vocal backings bringing to mind ‘90s alt-rock acts like The Verve Pipe, Collective Soul, and – during The Wandas’ more [...]

I can still remember hearing my first My Morning Jacket song. It was “One Big Holiday” off the album It Still Moves. Eight years later, I can still remember how that initial exposure made me feel. My Morning Jacket continually produce material on a grand scale; everything this band makes has a larger-than-life, mesmerizing quality [...]

Like perhaps the most famous of surf-rock innovators (Brian Wilson), Arthur C. Imperial does not surf. Rather, the sights and sounds of witnessing the act provide ample room for his musical talents to emerge. The Toronto-based Art Imperial depicts his swirling mixture of surf-rock and alternative aptly on the new Surf Suburban EP; a sky-blue [...]

Before 2009, I was more or less indifferent to Black Lips, a band that basically sounded like a few other bands I already liked (Monks, King Khan & BBQ Show, etc). Then I heard 200 Million Thousand, an album with a dirge to it that simply lights each song on fire. It was gross, murky, [...]

Skeletons’ new album, People, continues their rich mash-up of freak-folk and prog-rock, all while remaining separate from other contemporaries like Timber Timbre, Man Man, and Bruce Peninsula. People explores fuzzy narratives with fictional characters as idiosyncratic as the five-piece’s bustling sound, with producer Rusty Santos masterfully keeping Skeletons’ hypersensitive ambition in check. [...]

Few artists can top the sheer moodiness of ’80s groups that teetered on the edge of post-punk and newly concocted electronic-pop. New Order and Depeche Mode are generally the most cited in this regard, and they are often the source of inspiration for revivalists of the movement today. These influences helped John Kunkel form the [...]

About nine years ago, it became extremely uncool to like Fleetwood Mac. This pop/rock/soul band created some of the most emotional, daring, bold music in decades. Unfortunately, the Dixie Chicks ruined everything. They released a god-awful cover of “Landslide” and turned a whole generation off to Mick Fleetwood and Stevie Nicks’ amazing songwriting. I never [...]

About Group’s Start & Complete has flown somewhat under the radar. It is somewhat surprising considering both its quality and the fact it features members of prominent acts like Hot Chip (Alexis Taylor), This Heat (Charles Hayward), and Spiritualized (John Coxon). Add to that the experienced Pat Thomas, who has played for several deceased avant-garde [...]

The good folks over at GroopEase just love being generous. In addition to offering significant discounts on up-and-coming artists, they are now giving away two three-day passes to Bonnaroo for free. That’s right… two tickets to one of the best music fests in the world for FREE! The festival takes place June 9th to 12th [...]